Parker will come into the fight light, but he will have to compete with Joshua's steroids? Joshua's referee, boxing commission, judges...............it will be an uphill battle...............but might be competitive...............as Joshua is not taking the fight seriously.................
Unless he has grown 3 inches I don't see what all the fuss is about. Joshua will be doing exactly the same, in fact its the most intense he's looked in his career so far, even at times struggling to hide his mean streak behind his 'nice guy' persona. In fact, Joshua's camp have already spoken about coming in lighter for the fight, and his conversations with Freddie Roach led to Roach advising him to do exactly that.....cut back on the muscle. At the end of the day, we've seen Joshua's chin and engine questioned, and he passes with flying colours every time. For me Parker is smaller, not a hard puncher (In context as a heavyweight) and has huge questions regaring his boxing IQ and Engine. Parker lost rounds to Takam because he was getting outworked, Joshua never was......So to question Joshua's engine but not Parker's when against the same opponent one had a 60/40 fight and the other had a 99/1 fight, is a just a bit unfair and unjustified.
His best chance comes if Joshua gasses but that will only happen if the pace of the fight is high. Parker needs to be durable for the first 6/7 rounds and make Joshua throw and throw and throw. Theres no point him trying to win this fight on points because he wont, id play tactically in making Joshua work hard for the first 6, land body shots throughout, and really put the pressure on him late, IF Parkers engine is as good as they say it is then this would be my gameplan if i was the coach of Parker. However off watching Parker, i dont rate his Footwork whatsoever, i think its extremely poor. I dont think his fight IQ is great. I think his punching power is not what his KO ratio would suggest. Has he knocked anybody out since moving on to World Level? What happens if he touches the floor for the first time? A man who runs around priding himself on how tough his chin is and hes never been down is a man who will be mentally broken when it does happen. Best of luck too Parker anyway, he seems like a nice guy and post Joshua whatever the result i hope he does well.
Disappointed to click the link and see footage of Parker from 2014. Dude who posted the video is clearly a fan but posting vids of him when he is younger and leaner and putting it across like it is current isn't likely to do anyone any good other than make Parker fans who don't think objectively about what they are seeing feel excited briefly. Sounds like his camp is going well for sure... But this is misleading
3 1/2 years ago that footage....and we've not seen much development in that time. Whereas joshua seems to improve a level every single fight.
It' true he's shown little progress over that time. He's improved his stamina which was clearly lacking in the Takam fight, he's become more accustomed to fighting off the back foot, but as Dagnaldinho said his footwork is sloppy, he's got fast feet but poor footwork. He's also improved his head movement a little but compared to Joshua his progress is insignificant. Joshua just has a far more professional approach to his career than Parker and most other heavyweights in general. While Parker and many others between fights seems to balloon up in weight and probably take their training lightly, if they train at all between fights that is, Joshua trains hard all year round and is never out of shape. It's why he has progressed so much more than his peers like Parker and Wilder. Joshua is constantly looking to learn and improve whether he has a fight coming up or not and that hunger to improve is what has so far separated him from the others. When you look at all the elite guys in boxing, guys like Pac, Mayweather, Hopkins, Ward etc they all trained all year round, didn't get out of shape between fights. Not every fighter does that, Amir Khan doesn't do that, so while these lazy fighters are sitting on their asses between fights their peers are spending hundreds of hours in the gym each year improving. That work ethic often separates the good from the great.
Just playing with Joshua's little head again 3 and a half year old footage and Joshua is probably watching and thinking what the **** is going on Joshua has exhibited confusion throughout this process and is going to be more surprised when he wears Joes straight right in the 6th on his glassy chin
That bold is a very pertinent point. Anyone can be knocked out by anyone, and Parker's setting himself up for a rude awakening if he does get dropped and hurt by Joshua, which is a very real possibility. Far better to suffer these things in a meaningless fight where you know you don't need to pull out all the stops to still get the win than have it happen on the biggest night of your career.